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"With these heavy things, you are taught to compartmentalize and just document it. "As you cover these, you become desensitized," Witlen tells New Times. As soon as news of the travesty spread, photographer Ian Witlen - whose work has appeared on CNN and in New Times, Time, and other publications - was called to document the scene outside the high school, his alma mater.
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That fateful day, former MSD student Nikolas Cruz gunned down 17 people - 14 students and three teachers - at the Parkland high school. Instead, a day that's meant to celebrate love in all of its iterations became forever entwined with scenes of horror. There, anti-gun violence protesters from around the country-some survivors of school shootings, and others whose daily lives were affected by gun violence-celebrities, and other activists, spoke to a crowd of thousands, demanding legislative change.February 14, 2018, was meant to be a Valentine's Day like any other for the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Students across the country were encouraged to stage walkouts, and a rally was held in Washington, D.C. On March 24, less than six weeks after their lives were shattered by violence, students helped organize the March for Our Lives, a demonstration in support of gun violence prevention. “ Please, take action,” he begged lawmakers.
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One student, David Hogg, went from school newspaper reporter to activist when his plea to legislators in a CNN interview went viral. Student survivors took to social media to make their anger known, giving interviews and becoming activists for gun safety legislation. Chants for “No More Guns!” broke out at candlelight vigils and over a thousand people showed up to funerals in the days after. But it hadn’t been enough to stop the carnage.
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Previous school shootings throughout the country had prompted Stoneman Douglas (and other schools) to practice active shooter drills, and the school had employed an armed officer on campus. The devastation felt by the Florida community-once considered the safest city in the state-was immeasurable. Peterson was arrested in June 2019 and faced charges of neglect of a child, culpable negligence and perjury. “He looked like a typical high school student, and for a quick moment I thought, ‘Could this be the person who I need to stop?’” said Officer Michael Leonard in an interview after arresting Cruz.īroward Sheriff's deputy school resource officer Scot Peterson, who was assigned to the school that day, would later be accused of retreating during the shooting while victims were still under attack. He was apprehended shortly thereafter after being spotted by a Broward County police officer. The gunman successfully left the campus, running to a Walmart at 2:50 p.m, stopping at a Subway restaurant to get a drink and eventually heading to McDonalds. At 2:28 p.m., just seven minutes after entering the building, he ditched the rifle in another stairwell and left the school, attempting to blend in with the crowd of escaping students. In all, Cruz’s attack lasted less than four minutes and left 17 dead.
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Only hurricane impact-resistant glass in the windows kept the death toll from growing. According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Cruz left the hallways and went to the faculty lounge, where he set up a bipod-like a tripod on which to rest the gun-reloaded his weapon and began firing, like a sniper, at the fleeing students outside.